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Chapter 2

Hurrying down the hallway with her pride on her shoulder, Naomi felt sick. Her palms were clammy and a headache was starting to build around her temples. Her mind was hectic, along with her emotions spirally out of her control. She had to gather herself. And maybe go somewhere quiet.

She walked past the lounge where her colleagues were standing, they were vaguely chatting amongst each other since the meeting was over. Some of them had smiles plastered on their faces while others looked briefly interested. All the while, they each seemed content and waited for their short break to be over. As she approached the group of people, she felt some eyes shift on her. Her movements stifled. She had to keep her head down to avoid questions; without a doubt she knew her face was flushed. As Naomi attempted to move past the group she heard a voice call out in her direction. Shit. She frantically shuffled to the bathroom which was right around the corner. As she reached for the door handle to her escape, a firm hand grasped her shoulder and spun her around.

"Naomi," Veronica, her colleague and close friend said, making intense eye contact.

"Hmm," her reply was nonchalant as she tried her best to hide her face.

"I was calling you back there. Are you alright? You look, well, flustered."

Veronica appeared to be genuinely concerned. Her eyebrows were bunched and her hand still rested along on top of Naomi's shoulder.

Naomi cleared her throat and attempted to muster as much confidence as she could. She swiftly stepped out of her hold.

"Yeah, of course why wouldn't I be?"

"You just came out of the conference room with Mr. Mogul and you look close to tears. What happened? What did he say?"

Veronica moved closer to Naomi. She decided not to touch her again and to just simply listen.

Naomi inhaled, her breathing was jagged but she forced herself to continue,

"Nothing, he just got on my ass about being late that's all."

Veronica stared at her inquisitively. She knew something else was up but decided not to push. If Naomi didn't want to tell her that was fine but she knew eventually her friend would come around.

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" Veronica added softly.

"Yeah I know, thanks V."

With that she moved past her into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

***

The bathroom was dim. Soft music played above on the speaker. While the beige walls seemed to darken with the lack of lighting. Naomi peeked through her now heavy eyelids and stared at herself through the mirror. What do I do? She couldn't fully comprehend what was happening. Everything was changing so fast. For starters, her boss had made a move on her. He thought she was interested and what's worse is that she couldn't exactly leave at the moment because she wasn't in a good place financially.

After college she had decided to move from down state Florida where a majority of her family resides to Atlanta to follow her dreams. She heard of the opportunities Georgia would bring to her writing career. She was an upcoming poet. Her move from Florida to Georgia was motivated based on faith and her love to write. In the first year of living in ATL she had done pretty well for herself. She was working on her first book and was making money here and there performing at little cafés. She found a part time job at Cupid's Arrow where Mr. Mogul eagerly brought her in. Ever since then, she had been working diligently. But this past year things have been utterly rough. She had to stop performing at cafes to work extra hours here at the office and her writing process for her book faltered. She was so engulfed in working and paying her bills, it seemed she gradually forgot the reason she moved to ATL in the first place. But she was without a doubt, struggling. Not only did Naomi not have any family in Atlanta, she hadn't spoken to her parents in four months since their last argument.